Pinebluff Mayor Ronald McDonald is under fire after an email he sent in response to an invitation to speak at a vigil for conservative activist Charlie Kirk surfaced online.
Moore Republican Women invited McDonald to speak at the event, scheduled for Saturday in Pinehurst. The invitation was sent to McDonald’s personal email, and he responded from that same account. At no point did he reference the town or his position as mayor.
In his reply, McDonald wrote, “I’m not a fan of Charlie Kirk and you should be ashamed of holding a rally for a racist like him. I believe in equal rights for all not only for white.”
In a statement, McDonald said his comments were made as a private citizen, not as the mayor of Pinebluff. “My response was, I would not be there. I cannot support it because I won’t support racism,” he said. “That was a personal opinion. It had nothing to do with Pinebluff. I was sitting in my house on my personal phone when this took place.”
The mayor admitted he should have handled the situation differently. “Maybe I went too far with it. I should have just said, no, I will not be there and left it alone,” McDonald said. “But that’s the way I feel. That’s my belief.”
He also offered an apology to the community for being dragged into the fallout. “I apologize to the people of Pinebluff for getting them involved in this thing,” McDonald said. “I never thought it would blow up like this.”
McDonald emphasized that while he does not support Kirk, he feels deep sorrow for the family. “I feel for his wife and I feel for his children. There’s nobody in this country who needs to die of a gunshot,” he said. “I would just hate to wake up one day and for my wife and children to get a phone call that I had passed away like that. For someone to take your life, it’s not right. You send your loved ones off in the morning expecting them to come home at night. I hate that it happened.”
The first town hall meeting since the controversy took place Thursday night, drawing a larger-than-usual crowd. During public comment, one longtime resident delivered sharp criticism.
“As a town official, it’s very upsetting and uncalled for about the comment that you made,” the citizen told McDonald. “You do not have a right to publicly make such negative statements on a social media email. You are the mayor of this town. Now I have to question what kind of a person you really are. Is the mayor looking out for the town’s interest or his own agenda?”
McDonald said reactions have been divided, with some people demanding his resignation and others telling him they respect that he spoke his mind. “I’ve never quit anything in my life,” he said. “If the town of Pinebluff feels like they don’t want Ronald as their mayor anymore, they can make that choice in November. I will not step down. I will not resign.”
The mayor pointed to his work over nearly four years in office as evidence of his commitment to the community. “When I came in, our police department was down to two officers. We now have six, which is what the town charter calls for,” McDonald said. “Our fire department has grown from just a chief to five full-time staff, plus about 20 part-timers and 20 volunteers. Town hall was only staffed at 25 to 30 percent, and now we are fully staffed.”
He said the progress is the result of a team effort, not just his own. “I never want to take all the credit for what’s been done. The credit goes to the people who do it — the staff, the town board, the folks who show up every day to make this town work,” McDonald said.
Despite the backlash, McDonald has already filed to run for another term. “I love what I do,” he said. “The voters will decide whether I stay or go.”
The vigil for Kirk is set for 5 p.m. Sunday on the Village Green in Pinehurst.
